Tuesday 31 August 2021 19:00
* The activity will take place online.
Even in August, our Teen Reading Club gets together for another exciting meeting hosted by the author Stella Kasdagli.
The book we’ll be reading this month is Mia Tigania Patates (A Plateful of Fries) by Matina Panagiotelidou.
For this session, 27 members between 12 and 16 years old meet at the SNFCC’s Mediterranean Garden on Tuesday, August 31, at 19:00, to discover alternative worlds waiting to be created by the readers themselves – that’s us!
Don’t worry if you don’t have time to get through the whole book, or if you didn’t make it to our previous meeting: in any case, Stella will give the signal each month, announcing the book we’ll all be reading over the next few weeks. At the end of the month, the gang that has read the book (or half of it, at least!) will get together to share thoughts, impressions, feelings and concerns inspired by what we read – whether we liked it a lot, or not so much!
A bit more on August’s book
Mia Tigania Patates, Matina Panagiotelidou’s debut novel, is an exploration of the violent changes and the risks faced by teenagers. Of that stage in their lives when they need to stay true to themselves, while also coming to terms with the world of adults and finding their balance anew.
The plot:
How much of a hero do you need to be to successfully cross the dangerous path that leads from adolescence to adulthood? What will help when your life seems to have turned against you? Fifteen-year-old Zoe feels trapped in her apartment in Athens. Her divorced parents don’t seem to pay her much attention, struggling as they are with their own worries. To get away from this painful situation, she seeks refuge at her grandma Anna’s village, where she dreams of spending her summer at peace. At the village, she meets Yiannis, an eighteen-year-old Greek-Egyptian and, a little later, Alex and Nina, a brother and sister from Athens. Each of her new friends lives life by their own rules, and Zoe will soon be called to make a choice between them. A series of dramatic events shakes up her world. To find balance, she will need to understand, forgive, and give second chances, creating, in the process, a new, more mature version of herself. Will she succeed? At what cost? How painful can the road to adulthood be?
A bit more on Stella:
Stella Kasdagli is an author, translator, co-founder of the non-profit organization Women On Top, and educator to teenagers and adults. She completed her degree (only God knows how) in French Philology in Athens, and went on to study Media Theory in London. She worked as an editor on Cosmopolitan magazine for a number of years, while also writing for other Greek and English-language publications and sites. She now designs and implements actions to empower women, writes on topics she’d like to see discussed more widely, translates foreign literature, and runs workshops for teenagers on body image, the internet and social change. She is also (phew!) co-founder of the Mentorkids network and the Bookworm online book club. She has written the books Koilitsa.com [Belly.com], Ithela mono na horeso [I only wanted to fit], 30 gynaikes pou allaksan ton kosmo (kai pos boreis na ton allakseis ki esi) [30 women who changed the world (and how you can change it, too)], and the Princess Athena series. She has two daughters, and they grow up together in Athens.
Tuesday 31/08, 19:00
For boys and girls aged 12-16 years old
Via Zoom
Free participation by online pre-registration
Preregistration starts on Friday 30/07 at 12.00.
Children should always be accompanied by parents or adult chaperones, who should stay outside the activity area for as long as the activity lasts.
To take part in the Reading Club, those who register must have read the book of the month (or half of it, at least).
Mia Tigania Patates is available by Kastaniotis Publications.
In the context of the collaboration between the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center and the National Library of Greece, the teenage book of August's Reading Club has been selected by the Staff of the NLG.
The use of face mask and social distancing measures are mandatory in indoor and outdoor areas of the SNFCC, in accordance with Hellenic National Public Health Organization regulations.
Due to public health measures, there may be changes regarding either the staging of the event, or the maximum number of participants.
